Letters -- Published July 11, 2013

Thursday

Jul 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM

According to Record columnist Michael Fitzgerald, the San Joaquin County citizens who voted 65 percent for natural marriage, "... voted to 'disparage and injure' good people for no good reason" ("Sowing seeds of equality," June 28).

According to Record columnist Michael Fitzgerald, the San Joaquin County citizens who voted 65 percent for natural marriage, "... voted to 'disparage and injure' good people for no good reason" ("Sowing seeds of equality," June 28).

So, we conservatives are all bigots? Fitzgerald thinks so, because the only argument he remembers is that we believe "same-sex marriage was going to destroy traditional marriage."

First of all, branding people you don't agree with as bigots is in the same intellectual family as the playground retort, "Well, if I'm one, then you're one, too!"

Now, most people want to protect natural marriage because they understand the physiology of a man and a woman, the social contract that binds them, and the raising of disciplined and moral children. They know marriage is not all about personal gratification; it has a public purpose oriented toward the continuation of an ordered society. The Supreme Court's decision that the roles of husband and wife are interchangeable is a physiologic and social lie, and a direct attack on common sense. Legislating changes in human nature from the bench cannot lead to a good end.

Fitzgerald and his liberal media cohort have advanced a myth of human sexuality that has been ratified by the highest court. However, most people not blinded by their ideology - starting with children - know the difference between a mother and a father, and even the court's decision and the constant media harangue cannot erase that knowledge.

John B. Hymes

Stockton

Our Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves. We no longer have a country. It is ruled by five individuals who are not elected by the people, but are appointed by our so-called representatives in Washington. Some of the very important laws that the people of California and other states vote for become unconstitutional.

Marriage, the death penalty and immigration status that we voted for are struck down. Since when is your gender a subject of the Constitution? This country was founded on and under the belief that there was a God.

I guess this no longer matters. So why do we vote? It seems that it no longer matters.

Barbara J. Bjornboe

Stockton

» » »

To what degree of moral turpitude has our country fallen when five people on the U.S. Supreme Court can overturn the will of the people of California on Proposition 8? Shame also on the lead attorneys.

We need to read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety to remind ourselves of what the trailblazers like John Hancock sacrificed to preserve our God-endowed gifts of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Masako Agari

Stockton

In my 76 years, I thought I had seen it all in our deteriorating justice system. San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Terrence Van Oss proved I haven't.

It is unbelievable that a convicted murderer, already serving life in prison, could be sentenced by Van Oss to the exact same penalty he was already serving for the murder of his previous cellmate at DVI.

To add insult to injury, Van Oss overturned 12 jurors who voted for the death penalty to be imposed on John Lydon.

The jury foreman wrote an excellent letter regarding this fallacy by Van Oss. If I was one of those jurors, who had to give up a normal life for a time, I would be irate. It's no wonder most citizens don't wish to serve as a juror. This trial proved it was a useless cause.

Lydon, the murderer, has an atrocious criminal history. According to the jury foreman, Lydon has been responsible for three murders in prison. Yet Van Oss didn't feel he deserved the death penalty because he had a troubled youth. How many times have I heard this excuse in trials? At least Van Oss had compassion for the killer. He apparently had none for the victim. Lots of luck to Lydon's next cellmate.